Battery technology delays new Priuses?
The key to many hybrid cars is the battery technology. Seems that an attempt by Toyota to switch to LiON batteries has caused some problems:
Bob Kanode, the CEO of Valence Technology, which makes lithium-ion batteries for vehicles, recently said one of the big issues for the electric car world was going to be cobalt versus phosphate. And he may be right. Source: Has Toyota delayed new Priuses? Is cobalt to blame? | Tech news blog – CNET News.com
Right now the Prius uses the time-tested Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, laptops and other power-hungry devices use LiON (Lithium ion). Of course LiON batteries have been having a small safety issue of late. Can you imagine a LiON battery catching on fire in a car?
Boom.
Not good for increasing adoption of hybrid or electric vehicles. Solution? Instead of cobalt, phosphate could be used…but the work isn’t complete. They only thing that can be done now, is wait.
1 Comment
Hybrid vehicles scare fire departments silly. The first thing these agencies usually do when responding to the scene of a automobile accident and fire is to spray water on things. But, you don’t want to dump water on a high voltage battery. Even if you don’t spray water on the battery, the crash mangled battery may make some pretty incredible voltages appear at places where they’re unexpected, and this can cause problems when rescuing victims.
Dave